Clay and Fire

new kiln

2009-10-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

I started the rebuild... broke the whole mess down and replaced cement blocks damaged by the heat. Poured a 3.5 inch slab on top of the cement blocks then put down a double layer of hard brick. Started throwing up brick last week. It's slow going but by next Spring will have a much improved kiln.
everything's a bit too slow for me... but am short on time right now
I'll be firing Phil's kliln on Halloween... will put a few pieces in. this is a smallish anagama that he built a few years ago... a nice little kiln.
Steena didn't fire her kiln this fall... too bad.
must get myself a camera.

Steena's Kiln

2009-09-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

Was down this summer to the Unnasch farm. Opened up the flue on Steena's kiln... increased the size by about 50%... quick calculations... closer to 22% of stacking space footprint. I feel better about it now and am fairly positive that we can fire to temp... if we have enough small split and seasoned hard wood.

rebuild

2009-06-30T08:04:00.000-07:00

Blogging is not my gift... way too long in between posts.

I'm in the process of rebuilding my kiln. Three firings and not one particularly successful... well, that's wrong... two absolute failures and one not entirely successful. I have high hopes that we'll solve the problems.
Am taking down the old one right now, will change the foundation a bit, allowing for a much larger firebox and chimney... the firing chamber will be the same size or roughly so. It's a lot of work and am shocked at the glaze build up on some of the bricks... the throat is completely fused and will be a total loss.
I'm hoping to have things ready for rebuilding in a week or so (probably two or three).

Had someone dump some garbage at the site again… this is really depressing as I have to haul it out and pay the landfill. I want to ask the owner, Gary, if I can at least put up a rope at the entrance with a “no dumping” sign… As of right now there hasn’t been too much but why anyone would do this is beyond me… I guess I wouldn’t, so assume no one else would. Reinforces the notion of “the depravity of man” … saving themselves about $8 they throw their crap at my kiln site… I’d like to catch them in the act so I could explain to them (in a calm and loving tone) my theory of how people are generally pigs… I guess I could block the drive with my truck and call the sheriff.

Anyway… no pictures… hope to have some that I can post before too long. Phil is going to come over and help me with the rebuild… much to do before that takes place.

Fired the Fast Fire

2008-11-25T14:12:00.001-08:00

I helped fire Stena's kiln last weekend.
Loaded in Friday and Fired all day on Saturday.
I have to say I am pleased with the kiln... it does work.

Stena learned a lesson about wood though; you need the right wood in the right condition to fire a kiln efficiently. We had a nice pile of split oak and maple and plenty of small limbs that had been cut to size by her dad. Unfortunately none was split small enough and none was seasoned well enough.

Stena started the kiln by about 7:30 on Saturday morning while I was in class. I called on the way down at about 1:00pm and she had it to about 400F. I pulled in at about 2:00 and we started stoking in earnest. We had it up to just about 1000F by 4:00 or so and by 6:00 or so we had it running at about 1800F. This is where we ran into trouble. We simply couldn't get the temp to go up. We worked hard at it for about 4 hours finally getting it to around 2000F and then closed it down at about 11:00pm.

It was disappointing to let it go but we were running out of viable wood and we were simply fighting to maintain the temp let alone raising it.

It was a valuable lesson... but I think she has a nice little kiln to use.

Building My First Kiln

2008-11-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

I've wanted to build a kiln for years. I scavenged brick from a construction/excavation company and stored them at a friend's place for about 7 years. Finally found a piece of property that I lease for hardly anything at all and decided the time was right.

Life gets pretty busy with four daughters and bills and career... I almost gave this dream up a couple of times.

Decided on a cross draft catenary with a bourry style fire box. I really didn't know what I was up to but just plowed ahead. In the end I fired it twice without success, made some modifications and got it close enough to call it good. Will rebuild next Spring with a fellow potter, Phillip Ahnen, from Rochester Minnesota.

Here are some pictures of the first kiln...

Of course, I slapped up a chimney later.

I skimped all along the way... which caused all sorts of problems later... and I learned some valuable lessons about kiln building:

1. Make the fire box larger than you think you'll need.

2. Give yourself plenty of options for up front air.

3. Read up on bourry boxes and visit a firing or two that uses this type of fire box.

4. Build in a larger than you think flue opening.

5. Build a taller than you think chimney... with active and passive dampers.

6. Do not use a steel fire grate.

...among other things.

Kiln Blessing

2008-11-10T05:56:00.000-08:00

After I built the Kiln (first time around) I thought it would be appropriate to kick things off with a ritual of some kind... so I went to my priest, Father Scott Munson of Christ Church (The Episcopal Church). He was agreeable and came out with a group of friends and family for a kiln blessing. Here are some picts.

Kiln Firing of Oct 15-17

2008-11-06T09:38:00.000-08:00

Well it went off but not without some hitches.
I started the kiln at 6:30 am on Thursday October 16. It was about 38 degrees... a little cool and dark at the time... and very lonely. I was dressed for the weather so I didn't mind sitting in front of the firebox putting bits of wood in the small fire. I wanted to go slow and keeep the heat under 200 for a few hours.
Within an hour or so I had it up to about 175 and held it there for about three hours then took it up to 200 and held it there for another two or so. I was happy that I could could get small rises in temp and stall it at those temps.
At 12:30 I began to build temp under the fire grate until 600 F then began to stoke above the fire grate. I began to build temp pretty rapidly... gaining 200+ degrees an hour. At about 7:30 or so I was at about 1600 so I was pretty happy with how things were going. This is when Phil showed up.
Temp continued to climb until about 12:00 am Friday then slowed down considerably. The weather turned during the night and a low pressure moved in. I took a break at about 11:30 and slept till 3:30am. In the mean time Phil took over and moved the temp up to 2000 F. I took over at about 5:00am on Friday while Phil took a break and slept till about 10:30. I got the temp up to 2100 F. At this point things completely stalled. A low pressure had moved in with no breeze and light rain that lasted almost the entire day. We had a hard time moving the temp up to 2200 F and never made it.
Should have fired off in less than 24 easy...
We tried everything to move the temp up but my kiln simply didn't have enough features to tweak it. Chimney was a little too small, fire box could have been bigger, air up front could have been more generous, etc...
We stopped the firing around 5 pm on Friday and hoped for the best.
J and I and a friend from town opened in up on Monday to unload and were pleasantly surprised by what we saw... of course we didn't expect much. We thought we'd probably had reached the temps we wanted in parts of the kiln but didn't want to get our hopes up.
We found some pieces that came through nicely and many that didn't.
I have a lot of work to do with clay bodies and glazes not too mention rebuilding my kiln next Spring.

Karen Karnes

2008-11-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading the transcript of Mark Shapiro's interview with Karen Karnes from, "Oral history interview with Karen Karnes, 2005 Aug. 9 and 10, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution". I have to give credit to Mark Shapiro for doing this. It's a shame that some of these people, who are really some of the pioneers of our craft disappear without a lasting record of their story. I recommend reading this. You can find it at this link:
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/karnes05.htm
Karnes' background is pretty unique but her milieu was as well...so different from what is going on today. As I read I couldn't help trying to piece together just what she was up to back in the 50s and 60s. I understand the explosion of interest in the 60s but the 50s must have been something… a real clean slate. Well, there were things going on but something definitely changed in the 60s.
I read a book about Peter Voulkos some time ago. Very cool story as well. But these stories are just isolated stories… they worked in a world already on the move and moving. Pioneers I think might be a little too much… let’s say, artists… maybe craftspeople…
I get the impression when I read about these times… that today is a bit mixed up. There just doesn’t seem to be a thread running through much of the world these days. We’ve maybe cut ourselves off from some real viable history… or maybe in today’s world “anything goes” has created a “anything’s art” mentality. That may be or may not be true. Is it every woman and man for him or herself… or is it something different. I would suggest that almost anything would attract and detract and maybe Art is more or less a discipline of individuality; just one person’s search for the ultimate (unless of course your particular search is for the minimum) and hopefully someone will buy into it.
Can we make Art that is universal? Should we make Art that is universal? That speaks to all people?